Sodexo Prestige Keep Spirits High With Festive Cuisine

The chefs behind five of Scotland’s top dining venues have been slicing, chopping and boiling their way through this festive season preparing more than 15,000 meals for hungry party-goers.

Sodexo Prestige is the corporate dining, hospitality and events division of Sodexo and partners with 17 top class venues in Scotland and 50 across the UK. Sodexo's chefs, who are based at the company's headquarters in South Queensferry, have already mashed 2.5 tonnes of potato, chopped 1.5 tonnes of root vegetables, cooked three tonnes of meat and baked 12,000 Christmas mince pies across the venues.

Headed by Executive Chef Stephen Frost, the 10-strong-team has also wrapped 15,000 chipolatas in bacon, simmered 3000 litres of soup, enough to fill more than 37 bath tubs, and whipped 1000 litres of cream which would fill a further 12 baths.

Their work is to ensure guests enjoy a slap up Christmas meal at Hamilton Park Racecourse, Hampden Park Stadium, Perth Racecourse, the Edinburgh Corn Exchange and Discovery Point in Dundee.

Stephen Frost commented: “The Christmas period is without a doubt our busiest time for the venues so it really has been all hands on deck. We’ve got a very close-knit, hard working team here at South Queensferry so it makes it much easier to produce such a high volume of top quality food.

“We’ve all been extremely busy preparing the best food possible for our guests joining us at the various venues throughout December and the feedback so far has been fantastic.

“The sheer volume of food really is staggering when you step back and look at the figures so it’s great to hear the guests have been enjoying it all so much and that all our hard work has paid off.”

The team has prepared three-course meals for a total of 15,000 guests so far who have had their festive bashes at the various venues since November 29.

Despite the large volume of food being produced, the team at Sodexo Prestige has made a commitment to use locally-sourced, sustainable produce whenever possible in its dishes. Stephen explained: “We always try to use the best quality meat, vegetables and herbs at all times when cooking regardless of the number of people we are cooking for.

“From the Highland Buccleuch beef we use to the loch Duart Salmon, a particular favourite of mine, we always try to take advantage of what we can find locally on our doorstep.

“We’re very proud to support Scotland’s food and drink industry so it’s great to see people across our venues enjoying and indulging in the top quality food we have to offer.”